You may recall the hubbub last spring surrounding a paper on fruit-fly genomics that had 1000 authors. Shortly following that, a paper on the Higgs boson published in Physical Review Letters boasted a record-breaking 5,154 authors. That one included 23 authors with the last name Wang, two each with the first initials C, F, H, and Q, and four with the first initial J.

What these examples of “hyperauthorship” make clear is that there can be multiple researchers with similar, if not identical, names in the same field. That can make things difficult for researchers, funders, and publishers alike.

To help resolve this issue, a number of organizations have begun issuing unique identifiers researchers can use to distinguish themselves from others with the same or similar names, thereby protecting their scholarly identities.

One of the most popular of these organizations is ORCID. ORCID “provides a persistent digital identifier that distinguishes you from every other researcher and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between you and your professional activities ensuring that your work is recognized.” Specifically related to grant submission, ORCID integrates with SciENcv to make creating NIH bioskteches easier.

Signing up for you own ORCID identifier is easy — registration takes 30 seconds. Once you’re registered you can add professional information to your ORCID record.

ORCID is a non-profit organization supported by research organizations, publishers, funders, and professional associations.

Digital identity image via PublicDomainPictures.net, in public domain.